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13 Mar 2007 : Column 286W—continued
Welfare Tax Credits: ICT
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the flexibility of the tax credit IT system; [126767]
(2) what assessment he has made of the risks associated with the tax credit IT system. [126768]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 12 March 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 October 2006, Official Report, column 2028W, and to the Minutes of Evidence given to the Treasury Committee on 19 April 2006 ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 23 May 2006.
Welfare Tax Credits: Telephones
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are in place to retrieve and transcribe telephone records in the event of a dispute between the tax credit office and its clients regarding information imparted during a call; and if he will make a statement. [126478]
Dawn Primarolo: Calls to the tax credits helpline are digitally recorded and in the event of a dispute that cannot otherwise be settled, HMRC staff will retrieve the recording to establish the facts.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a ban on all alcohol advertising on the incidence of alcohol-related crimes. [126596]
Mr. Coaker: While advertising has been shown generally to influence individuals’ awareness and attitudes, there is no clear evidence that advertising contributes to criminal behaviour such as violence. However, in response to the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy (2004), both the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) strengthened the non-broadcast and broadcast alcohol advertising code rules. The regulatory bodies; the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Ofcom, are undertaking work, designed to assess the impact of these regulatory changes. CAP and BCAP are committed to robust evidence-based rules. If there were new evidence showing major harms, then the codes, or their interpretation, may be reviewed.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect of the availability of alcohol for sale in supermarkets on levels of criminal and antisocial behaviour in the vicinity of supermarkets. [126218]
Mr. Coaker: The British Crime Survey provides, for England and Wales, general data on; adult victims’ perceptions on whether violent offenders were under the influence of alcohol; people’s perceptions of whether drunk and rowdy behaviour is a problem in their area; and a range of other data about alcohol related offences. No specific data is collected centrally on crime and disorder in the vicinity of supermarkets.
The Government are determined to see the highest standards of alcohol retailing across the industry including off licences and supermarkets and welcomes the progress that has been made.
We continue to work with the major supermarkets and other retailers to encourage socially responsible retail of alcohol and to tackle some of the associated issues, for example underage sales. Following the success of the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns we will conduct, in May, a national Tackling Underage Sales of Alcohol Campaign.
The Licensing Act 2003 gives local authorities and the police a powerful framework to regulate the sale of alcohol and tackle irresponsible licensed premises. Where crime and disorder arises in the vicinity of licensed premises, the licence can be reviewed and, if appropriate, conditions can be added or the licence can be revoked.
Alcoholic Drinks: Durham
John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many alcohol-related offences were committed in (a) County Durham and (b) Easington constituency in each of the last five years. [126449]
Mr. Coaker: From the information collected centrally on recorded crime, it is not possible to identify those offences which are alcohol-related. Such offences are not specifically defined by statute and details of the individual circumstances of offences do not feature in the recorded crime statistics.
Asylum
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers from (a) Somalia, (b) Iraq and (c) Afghanistan had their application refused in 2006. [124775]
John Reid: Information on asylum applications, initial decisions and appeals by nationality are published quarterly and annually. These publications, entitled ‘Asylum Statistics 1/2/3/4 Quarter 2006, are too large to be included within the reply. Copies are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Crimes of Violence: Hospitals
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) violent assaults and (b) arrests took place in hospitals in Lancashire in each of the last 10 years; [124973]
(2) how many convictions for offences committed in hospitals in Lancashire were obtained in each of the last 10 years. [124974]
Mr. McNulty: Information from the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service for physical assaults in Acute hospitals in the County of Lancashire is available for 2004-05 and 2005-06: with 297 physical assaults in 2004-05 and 343 physical assaults in 2005-06.
It is not possible to identify separately convictions for offences committed in hospitals from other information held centrally.
Criminal Casework Team
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes have been made to the Criminal Casework Team in each of the last five years. [124220]
John Reid: I have set out the average number of personnel working within the Criminal Casework Team in each of the last five years, 26 October 2006, Official Report, column 2126W. The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 9 October 2006, setting out that this figure had increased to 530 staff. In her letter, the Director General also outlined that a new system of case ownership has been introduced to ensure that all deportation cases are managed and tracked by individual caseworkers as they pass through the system. A copy of this letter is available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget of the criminal casework team was in each of the last five years; and how it was allocated in each year. [124318]
John Reid: Figures prior to 2004-05 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
From 2004-05, the budget for the criminal casework team (rounded to the nearest £100,000) is in the following table.
| £ | |
The majority of this budget is allocated for staffing costs. The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Lin Homer, wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on the 9 October 2006 explaining that during 2006 there had been a five-fold increase in staffing levels within the criminal casework team. A copy of this letter is available in the House Library.
Criminal Records Bureau: Standards
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time is for a Criminal Records Bureau check. [126325]
Joan Ryan: Data concerning the average waiting time taken to complete a disclosure are not a performance target and are not collated by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). The CRB operates to a published service standard (PSS) to issue 93 per cent. of standard disclosures within 10 days and 90 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within 28 days. For January 2007, the CRB issued 99.2 per cent. of standard disclosures and 90.8 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within PSS.
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of Authentication by Interview officers to be employed by his Department in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. [125948]
Joan Ryan: The interview officer role will gradually transition to that of interview and enrolment officer from 2009, and staff will be trained accordingly. This is to meet the need for the business additionally to record biometrics from all applicants in readiness for the issuing of second biometric passports and identity cards.
It is expected that there will be a need for more enrolment officers than the roughly 600 interview officers to be employed this year during the implementation of the authentication by interview process. Any additional staff are likely to be required from mid 2009, but it is premature to identify how many this will be as it depends on the date when IPS is ready to start initial biometric enrolment and the rate of increase in volume of customers which will depend on the progressive implementation plan.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Authentication by Interview officers have been recruited; and which company his Department has commissioned to recruit them. [125949]
Joan Ryan: IPS has recruited 55 interview office staff who have started work and offered a job to a further 539 people. Some are to be full time and others are part time staff. Recruitment was carried out by IPS supported by our recruitment partner Barkers, who assisted with application response handling.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent job advertisement for the position of Authentication by Interview officer. [125950]
Joan Ryan: I confirm that the most recent interview officer job advertisements for the recruitment campaign held in September 2006 will be placed in the Library.
Departments: Travel
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many miles staff in his private office travelled on official business in 2005-06. [124732]
John Reid: Departmental records on travel are not kept by length of journey and therefore this question cannot be answered within the disproportionate cost threshold.
All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.
Driving Offences
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted for failing to comply with (a) a stop sign and (b) traffic light signals in each of the last 10 years. [125022]
Mr. Coaker: The information collected centrally does not identify separately offences of neglect of stop signs and traffic light signals.
Available information taken from the Court Proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, from 1995 to 2004 (latest available) is provided in the table.
2005 data will be available later this year.
| Number of convictions at all courts for the offence of failing to comply with traffic light signals/signs( 1) , England and Wales, 1995 to 2004 | |
| Number of offences | |
| Total | |
| (1) Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973; the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 1994. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Work is under way to ensure that the magistrates courts case management system currently being implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used. | |
Driving Under Influence: Durham
John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drink driving offences were committed in (a) County Durham and (b) Easington constituency in each of the last five years. [126450]
Mr. Coaker: Available information on the number of convictions at all courts and those dealt with by written warning, taken from the annual Home Office publication “Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales Supplementary tables”, for Durham police force area (which is coterminous with the County of Durham), from 2000 to 2004 (latest available) are given in the table.
Data is not available at constituency level.
2005 data will be available later this year.
| Number of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs( 1) offences found guilty at all courts or dealt with by written warning within Durham police force area, 2000 to 2004 | |||||
| Number of offences | |||||
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
| (1) Offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences may be less than complete. Work is under way to ensure that the magistrates courts case management system currently being implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |||||
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